Today was perfection. Pure perfection. When a fellow passenger had told us he had booked this cruise solely for the port of Champagne Bay, he knew what he was talking about. And, despite heavy rains that started while the Golden Princess was sailing away from Vila and continued overnight, we enjoyed a brilliantly sunny and warm day until about 3pm.
After breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet (I’m back to fruit and cereal for awhile), we were moving just slowly enough that we weren’t on the first tender, but we were on an early tender. It was a short tender ride to the beach, about 5 to 7 minutes or so, but that was long enough for us to meet a family (two darling little girls) sitting on the tender’s upper level who lived just 12 miles from us until he took a job in Alice Springs, Australia as a US DOD contractor. They are the first Americans we’ve met this cruise...even though they’re living outside the country.
Our excitement grew as the beautiful crescent beach of Champagne Bay appeared in front of us. Champagne Bay is on the Vanuatu island called Espiritu Santo (known locally as Santo). Santo was inhabited for thousands of years by Melanesian people known as the Ni-Vanuatu, and their customs and culture is still preserved and practiced by their descendants. The island was first sighted by Portuguese explorer de Quiros in 1606. He established a short-lived settlement near Champagne Bay, and then the area was later explored by several European adventurers, including Captain Cook, who named the archipelago New Hebrides in 1774. The country was ultimately governed by both the British and the French (at the same time) until its independence in 1980.
The beach today had white, powdered sugar sand, something we haven’t seen a lot of on these cruises (the sand has, in general, been coarser). Large trees overhung the beach and provided lots of natural shade. The locals greeted us with singing and music, and there were many stalls set up lining the back side of the beach and selling local handicrafts and souvenirs. Before we got settled on the sand, however, we met up with taxi driver Joseph and arranged a ride to the Nanda Blue Hole.
Pinch me!Curt and Cindy, who we’ve cruised with in the past, told us we had to visit one of Vanuatu’s blue holes. I did some research online and found that, though there were several blue holes on Vanuatu (in fact, there was a mediocre one near Vila yesterday), the best one was the Nanda Blue Hole on Santo. It is located between today’s port of Champagne Bay and tomorrow’s port of Luganville, and nearly everyone who visits from the ship will do it from Luganville. That was all the more reason for us to try to get there today. I wanted a more peaceful experience than to share the blue hole with 500 fellow passengers.
The western half of Santo features a high volcanic mountain range while the eastern half is flatter with limestone on top of volcanic rocks. When it rains, water from the mountains flows underground into limestone caves, corroding the limestone to create underground streams. The streams resurge back to the surface in the coastal east creating fresh water springs. All water appears blue due to the absorption of red in the color spectrum. The deeper and more pure the water, the bluer it appears to be. The Nanda Blue Hole is one of the bluest in Vanuatu due to the strong flow of pure water from its spring and the depth of the water. It is about 40 feet deep at its deepest part.
Joseph drove us on a rutted road from the beach out to the main road that runs from Luganville to the northern end of the island (built by Australia, New Zealand and the US). I was skeptical about our plan while on the rutted road- the Nanda Blue Hope was about a 30 minute drive- but the main road was in great shape. The island’s inhabitants live in small villages that were sparsely located along the road. We saw far more free range cows and steers than people, though there were a few farm stands selling mostly papayas and mangos.
We arrived at the Nanda Blue Hole and paid the $10 AUD entrance fee. There was just one other taxi in the parking lot and one Australian family from the cruise ship, with two teenagers. That was perfect. It would have felt a bit creepy if we had been the only ones there, but the others were really nice and their kids made it fun. The blue hole looked just like the photos, deep blue, crystal clear fresh water surrounded by jungle. There was a nice boardwalk to the spring and steps from a deck that we used to enter the water, though there was a slightly higher platform for diving.
How blue holes are formed
The water was “fresh” (per the Australians), about 76F, I think, but once we got in, it felt comfortable. I snorkeled (total visibility) and found the freshwater fish quite different from what I’ve been seeing lately. G floated in the Swimways Papasan float and we chatted with the other family and it was a wonderful visit. And nearly every picture I took had no people in it, which won’t be at all possible tomorrow.
We returned to Champagne Beach by noon, and set our beach tarp out under a tree and I was immediately in the water to snorkel. I was amazed at the water temperature (88F), definitely the warmest ocean water temp we’ve ever seen (even higher than French Polynesia’s 84-86F). The snorkeling was okay, with mostly small fish, and I did see one striped spurgeonfish, but that sand and the crystal clear warm water was the real appeal of Champagne Bay.
About 3pm, the clouds that we had seen forming over the mountains to the west moved over, and we lost the sun for the first time. It was actually a relief as we were definitely hitting our limit of sun for the day. Last tender from shore to the ship was at 4:15pm, and we were on probably the second last tender. It had been a long but very fun day. We all looked like that Norman Rockwell painting of the family returning from a day at the beach as we reboarded the ship- sunburned, sweaty, sticky and covered with sand. There was a trail of sand from the tenders onto the tender pontoon, into the ship, up the stairs to security and into the elevator lobby that someone will be cleaning up all night.
And we were doing the same in our cabin, washing out and rinsing off everything we’d taken with us. G showered first, and when I used the bathroom, our toilet wouldn’t flush. This has been an ongoing issue, and I’m getting a little weary of it. After a day in the water and on a beach, I really need the toilet to flush. If you know what I mean. Sometimes it’s just delayed five or ten minutes so I took my shower, but still nothing. It did gurgle a little, which prompted G to offer, “Well, it’s trying”, as if toilets get graded for effort. No! Flushing is one thing that is definitely Pass/Fail, and ours was failing. I finally called Guest Services (for about the fourth time this season).
G was ahead of me, dressed and ready to go to dinner, so he fled the cabin, helpfully telling me not to rush. Excuse me, I’m putting on makeup in a small enclosed room with a toilet that won’t flush; I’m not going to dawdle. Finally, just as I was leaving the cabin, I heard that wonderful flushing sound. I had pointed out to Guest Services that this is a recurring issue (we face it nearly every day, but usually it eventually resolves itself) and I had two phone calls tonight making sure it had been fixed. Fingers crossed it stays fixed.
Luckily, dinner more than made up for any potty problems. I had told headwaiter Sean to order whatever he thought I’d like, which is rather fun. I like being surprised. Tonight I had sautéed shrimp as a starter, then a wonderful salad with apples and walnuts on spring greens with balsamic vinaigrette and, for my entree, two smoked salmon rosettes(!) and grilled veggies. All of my favorite things in one meal! I was so hungry, having skipped lunch, and enjoyed every bite of it.
Sailaway from Champagne Bay
Shrimp starter
Yummy salad
Bliss!We finished in time to get to the 6:45pm Vista Lounge performance of production show Motor City (though we had to sit separately as it was nearly full when we arrived). I hope that show never gets retired. It’s obvious that people still love it (as we do). And then we walked outside on the Promenade Deck to move quickly to the Princess Theater in time for the 7:45pm performance by impressionist Keith Scott. Yes, we’ve seen him many times already but we do enjoy it, and, surprisingly, we still had some energy left.
But then it was bedtime (G) and blog time (me). I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow. We are down to $60 AUD, though we can get local currency from an ATM if something is really appealing. Though I’ve enjoyed all my days in the water this cruise, I would be fine if tomorrow did not include a beach or snorkeling. We are starting to wear down a little, though the four sea days (four!) that we have after tomorrow will go a long way to resting up for two more cruises.
Two more cruises! Life is good. :-)